Current isosurfacial reconstruction techniques are limited to two or three image stereograms. Isosurfacial reconstruction methods reconstruct exterior surfaces of objects. A topographical surface map is generated by using edge detection, image correlation, and noise reduction techniques. A limitation of the isosurfacial technique is the lack of information of interior surfaces underneath exterior surfaces and exterior structures. Such interior surfaces are imaged as mesa approximations instead of freestanding films. Topographic reconstruction by stereography may use two or three images spaced apart in angular degree such as five to six degrees. By edge analysis, topographic features are extracted from these few images. However, stereography does not provide an ability to image underneath scrolling regions.
Referring to FIG. 1, a prior art three dimensional object may include a base 10, a support 12, and an extension 14 that overhangs the base 10 defining free space between the base 10 and the extension. The object is a three-dimensional object having an irregular exterior surface defining interior surfaces such as the bottom surface of the extension 14.
Referring to FIG. 2, conventional isosurfacial methods reconstruct the object so as to provide exterior imaging of the object 12. The exterior image includes a base image 16 from the base 10, a support image 18 from the support, and an image extension 20 of the extension 14. The imaging of the extension 14 disadvantageously fails to reveal the free space and a portion of the base 16 under the extension 20. The extension 12 is disadvantageously imaged as a mesa as shown by the image extension.
Current tomography techniques such as X-ray and T-ray techniques, as well as magnetic resonance tomography require transmission micrographs that relay summed absorptive information. This method utilizes sinogram computation to generate a voxel dataset. Transmission electron tomography and focused ion beam nanotomography are both destructive techniques that have been used to image and model nanostructures. However, there are instances in which structural information such as orientation, length and surface morphology must be obtained without damaging the sample. Topographical images generated from stereograms of nanoscrolls, representing current practice, lack details and are distorted. Hidden surfaces are not normally revealed by standard image stereograms. A topographical image of a nanoscroll based on current state of the art stereographic techniques lacks definition and hidden surfaces. The topograph is highly distorted and does not accurately depict necessary structural information.
There are needs for methods to model and image growing nanotechnology that often require strict tolerances, sizes, orientations, and relative positions that greatly affect performance of the nanotechnology. Non-destructive imaging of devices is highly desirable. For example, self-assembled nanoscrolls from strained thin films have generated recent interest due to potential applications in future nanoelectromechanical systems. A focused ion beam can scan nanoscrolls from preprocessed InGaAs/GaAs strained bridges 7-10 μm in length, 1.5 μm in width, and 14 nm thick. Analysis of the scrolling with time showed unexpected scrolling dynamics such as an initial vertical relaxation of the bridge before the initiation of lateral twisting action. This twisting created a curled nanohelix of diameter half of the expected diameter of a nanoscroll. Analysis ruled out the possibility of both incremental strain relief along the bridge as expected from wet etched films and simultaneous strain relief as expected from a released bridge structure. Instead, the strain relief may occur with a combination of both incremental and simultaneous strain relief, which is a result of the topological restrictions of the strained bridge on the curling action of the film. Although some details of the scrolling kinetics are revealed, more detailed analysis could not be performed simply from the two-dimensional images because conventional two-dimensional imaging techniques cannot effectively reveal the internal structure of these complex three-dimensional nanostructures. The nanostructures are too fragile to survive destructive physical analysis using focused ion beam cross-sectioning. Delicate nanometer films often are altered or destroyed during imaging and conventional stereographic imaging is inadequate to show important obscure features of the nanofilms. Conventional stereographic methods can provide topographical information, but the image data is inherently two-dimensional. Imaging noise can often obscure very small features.
Prior isosurfacial and tomography imaging methods and systems do not provide clear imaging of interior surfaces without approximation mesas or the destruction of the objects. Conventional stereographic images are not adequate to fully characterize small objects and nanomaterials. Stereographic optical systems suffer from a lack of hidden surface observation while Transmission Electron and Focused Ion Beam Tomographic techniques suffer from destructive sampling. These and other disadvantages are solved or reduced using the invention.